The 1986 Election and Beyond

In 1984, Benguet elected Samuel Dangwa, nephew of transport entrepreneur and war leader Bado Dangwa, to the Philippine legislature. Dangwa ran as an oppositionist (i.e., opposed to Marcos),

but soon transferred his allegiance to the KBL. According to rumor, he did this to extract a promise that the Mountain Trail would be paved. Once Dangwa aligned himself with Marcos, the Buguias municipal elite followed. Several politicians stated (for public consumption) that the entire municipality, except the errant barangay of Buguias Central, would heed their words and vote for Marcos in the 1986 election.

This prediction proved to be grossly unfounded. All but two of Buguias municipality's barangays favored Aquino, most by margins of two to one. When the Marcos family fled the Philippines, spontaneous celebrations erupted everywhere—although several leaders, concerned that their political futures were now jeopardized, were notably absent. Yet it was soon evident that such fears were unfounded when, in 1988, the municipality voted these same men back into office.

The larger arena of Cordilleran politics since the fall of Marcos can only be described as convoluted, if not bizarre. Conrado Balweg, the (in)famous "rebel priest of Abra," soon left the NPA, denouncing it as lowlander-dominated, anti-Igorot, and totalitarian. Balweg's troops then joined forces with the Aquino government in attempting to fashion an "autonomous" Cordilleran government. Meanwhile, the CPA leaders accused Balweg of acting on behalf of the CIA and the still-repressive state; he, in turn, inveighed against the covert Marxist agenda of his attackers. Eventually the government as well turned against Balweg. Moderate Igorot intellectuals, for their part, saw only danger in both camps; most would like local autonomy, but they fear both the revolutionary furor of the left and the largely invented "traditional" communalism of Balweg's group. Most of Benguet's local politicians, for their part, have desired only a continuation of the status quo. Apparently many citizens agree, since in January 1990 the only Cordilleran province to vote in favor of autonomy was Ifugao (on recent Cordilleran politics, see Finin 1990).

As has been alluded to above, virtually all levels of political discourse in Buguias, from barangay campaigns to the contentious relationship between the Cordillera and the Philippine state, involve religion to some degree. Rituals continue to affirm communal solidarity, but with part of the village having converted to Christianity,

the community affirmed has become that of believers rather than that of the village as a whole. As a result, Paganism—the cultural linchpin and economic fulcrum of Buguias life—has become at the same time a focus of contention. It is in this ideological sphere, to which we now turn, that some of the most emotional conflicts within the community occur.